Who we are

The Co-Founders of Nature Philosophy, Sam Robertson and Kate Rydge, have been sharing survival skills and guiding deep nature connection experiences since 2004.

Here is some of their story…

As children we both felt a deep resonance and connection to the natural world. Moving into adulthood we completed tertiary qualifications in business and economics and worked to financially support ourselves. This left us yearning for something greater…

We both found ourselves powerfully drawn to earth based philosophy and it's ancient and grounded respect for the Earth. In the years that followed we continued to devour any earth skills, indigenous wisdom and deep nature connection practices we could find, both in Australia and North America.

We became life long friends when we met in America and spent shared time learning survival skills, nature awareness and Native American scout philosophy with Tom Brown Jnr of The Tracker School, USA. During this time Sam wandered through America exploring survival skills and deep nature connection through varied wilderness locations. Kate took the role of a Caretaker at Tom’s Brown Jnr's school in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Here Kate lived for a year in a primitive shelter, exploring advanced survival skills and deeply dove into her spiritual journey.

While we were both in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey we participated in numerous personal Vision Quests - eventually training for many years with Malcolm Ring-walt of The Earth-Heart Institute to become Vision Quest Facilitators and Trainers.

These years of wandering and mentorship in America developed in us a heartfelt passion for sharing the power of wild sourced skills and a deep gratitude for the magic they wove into our lives.

Upon returning to Australia Kate and Sam offered their first Nature Philosophy program in 2004. Kate started to search for an indigenous community who she had seen in a 'vision' from her shelter in The Pine Barrens.

In search of this community, we travelled for the first time in 2008 into North-East Arnhem Land, Australia. We met members of an inspirational Homeland Community and were adopted as family. This Australian Aboriginal Community is called Mäpuru. The people of Mäpuru live on their traditional country and have a continuous connection to their traditional Yolngu culture.

Yearly we have been invited to return and bring with us members of our community who are willing to respectfully learn from and support our Mäpuru families. It’s always hard for us to put into words our experiences on country and our appreciation and love for our Yolngu families. Needless to say our time spent living with our Mäpuru families and endeavoring to support the community’s workshops has transformed our understanding of indigenous culture, community villages and survival.

Our ever deepening love and kin connections with our Mäpuru families has sharpened our belief of the modern day importance of supporting the continuous survival of indigenous cultures. Western culture is in a rapid transformation and the wisdom of deep nature connection practices will ensure soul connected and sustainable lifestyles are passed down to future generations.

The Nature Philosophy stream of courses draws broadly from these unique life experiences. At its heart Nature Philosophy is our offering to you of the most powerful techniques for personal transformation through earth connection we ourselves have experienced.

Time and time again we see our tribe experience deep soul level transformations and body awakenings as they embrace themselves through earth skills. Sharing in this process is our most profound inspiration for offering the Nature Philosophy programs.

Thanks for taking the time to hear some of our story. We’d like to hear your story too, maybe by a fire side soon…